| Stretching: The Truth By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Published: October 31, 2008 When Duane Knudson, a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Chico, looks around campus at athletes warming up before practice, he sees one dangerous mistake after another. “They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . ” He sighs. “It’s discouraging.” If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm- up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them. In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements. |
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Walt Fritz, PT Copyright 2007-2010
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“There is a neuromuscular inhibitory response to static stretching,” says Malachy McHugh,
the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at
Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The straining muscle becomes less responsive and
stays weakened for up to 30 minutes after stretching, which is not how an athlete wants to
begin a workout.
THE RIGHT WARM-UP should do two things: loosen muscles and tendons to increase the
range of motion of various joints, and literally warm up the body. When you’re at rest, there’s
less blood flow to muscles and tendons, and they stiffen. “You need to make tissues and
tendons compliant before beginning exercise,” Knudson says.
A well-designed warm-up starts by increasing body heat and blood flow. Warm muscles and
dilated blood vessels pull oxygen from the bloodstream more efficiently and use stored
muscle fuel more effectively. They also withstand loads better. One significant if gruesome
study found that the leg-muscle tissue of laboratory rabbits could be stretched farther before
ripping if it had been electronically stimulated — that is, warmed up.
To raise the body’s temperature, a warm-up must begin with aerobic activity, usually light
jogging. Most coaches and athletes have known this for years. That’s why tennis players run
around the court four or five times before a match and marathoners stride in front of the
starting line. But many athletes do this portion of their warm-up too intensely or too early. A
2002 study of collegiate volleyball players found that those who’d warmed up and then sat on
the bench for 30 minutes had lower backs that were stiffer than they had been before the
warm-up. And a number of recent studies have demonstrated that an overly vigorous aerobic
warm-up simply makes you tired. Most experts advise starting your warm-up jog at about 40
percent of your maximum heart rate (a very easy pace) and progressing to about 60 percent.
The aerobic warm-up should take only 5 to 10 minutes, with a 5-minute recovery. (Sprinters
require longer warm-ups, because the loads exerted on their muscles are so extreme.) Then it’
s time for the most important and unorthodox part of a proper warm-up regimen, the Spider-
Man and its counterparts.
“TOWARDS THE end of my playing career, in about 2000, I started seeing some of the other
guys out on the court doing these strange things before a match and thinking, What in the world
is that?” says Mark Merklein, 36, once a highly ranked tennis player and now a national
coach for the United States Tennis Association. The players were lunging, kicking and
occasionally skittering, spider-like, along the sidelines. They were early adopters of a new
approach to stretching.
While static stretching is still almost universally practiced among amateur athletes — watch
your child’s soccer team next weekend — it doesn’t improve the muscles’ ability to perform
with more power, physiologists now agree. “You may feel as if you’re able to stretch farther
after holding a stretch for 30 seconds,” McHugh says, “so you think you’ve increased that
muscle’s readiness.” But typically you’ve increased only your mental tolerance for the
discomfort of the stretch. The muscle is actually weaker.
Stretching muscles while moving, on the other hand, a technique known as dynamic stretching
or dynamic warm-ups, increases power, flexibility and range of motion. Muscles in motion
don’t experience that insidious inhibitory response. They instead get what McHugh calls “an
excitatory message” to perform.
Dynamic stretching is at its most effective when it’s relatively sports specific. “You need
range-of-motion exercises that activate all of the joints and connective tissue that will be
needed for the task ahead,” says Terrence Mahon, a coach with Team Running USA, home to
the Olympic marathoners Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor. For runners, an ideal warm-up might
include squats, lunges and “form drills” like kicking your buttocks with your heels. Athletes
who need to move rapidly in different directions, like soccer, tennis or basketball players,
should do dynamic stretches that involve many parts of the body. “Spider-Man” is a
particularly good drill: drop onto all fours and crawl the width of the court, as if you were
climbing a wall. (For other dynamic stretches, see the sidebar below.)
Even golfers, notoriously nonchalant about warming up (a recent survey of 304 recreational
golfers found that two-thirds seldom or never bother), would benefit from exerting themselves
a bit before teeing off. In one 2004 study, golfers who did dynamic warm- up exercises and
practice swings increased their clubhead speed and were projected to have dropped their
handicaps by seven strokes over seven weeks.
Controversy remains about the extent to which dynamic warm-ups prevent injury. But studies
have been increasingly clear that static stretching alone before exercise does little or nothing
to help. The largest study has been done on military recruits; results showed that an almost
equal number of subjects developed lower-limb injuries (shin splints, stress fractures, etc.),
regardless of whether they had performed static stretches before training sessions. A major
study published earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control, on the other hand, found
that knee injuries were cut nearly in half among female collegiate soccer players who
followed a warm-up program that included both dynamic warm-up exercises and static
stretching. (For a sample routine, visit www.aclprevent.com/pepprogram.htm.) And in golf,
new research by Andrea Fradkin, an assistant professor of exercise science at Bloomsburg
University of Pennsylvania, suggests that those who warm up are nine times less likely to be
injured.
“It was eye-opening,” says Fradkin, formerly a feckless golfer herself. “I used to not really
warm up. I do now.”
You’re Getting Warmer: The Best Dynamic Stretches
These exercises- as taught by the United States Tennis Association’s player-development
program – are good for many athletes, even golfers. Do them immediately after your aerobic
warm-up and as soon as possible before your workout.
STRAIGHT-LEG MARCH
(for the hamstrings and gluteus muscles)
Kick one leg straight out in front of you, with your toes flexed toward the sky. Reach your
opposite arm to the upturned toes. Drop the leg and repeat with the opposite limbs. Continue
the sequence for at least six or seven repetitions.
SCORPION
(for the lower back, hip flexors and gluteus muscles)
Lie on your stomach, with your arms outstretched and your feet flexed so that only your toes
are touching the ground. Kick your right foot toward your left arm, then kick your leftfoot
toward your right arm. Since this is an advanced exercise, begin slowly, and repeat up to 12
times.
HANDWALKS
(for the shoulders, core muscles, and hamstrings)
Stand straight, with your legs together. Bend over until both hands are flat on the ground.
“Walk” with your hands forward until your back is almost extended. Keeping your legs
straight, inch your feet toward your hands, then walk your hands forward again. Repeat five
or six times. G.R.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 2, 2008, on page MM20 of the New
York edition. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?
_r=1&scp=1&sq=stretching%20the%20truth&st=cse
For a video demonstrating recommended stretches, please click here.
the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at
Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The straining muscle becomes less responsive and
stays weakened for up to 30 minutes after stretching, which is not how an athlete wants to
begin a workout.
THE RIGHT WARM-UP should do two things: loosen muscles and tendons to increase the
range of motion of various joints, and literally warm up the body. When you’re at rest, there’s
less blood flow to muscles and tendons, and they stiffen. “You need to make tissues and
tendons compliant before beginning exercise,” Knudson says.
A well-designed warm-up starts by increasing body heat and blood flow. Warm muscles and
dilated blood vessels pull oxygen from the bloodstream more efficiently and use stored
muscle fuel more effectively. They also withstand loads better. One significant if gruesome
study found that the leg-muscle tissue of laboratory rabbits could be stretched farther before
ripping if it had been electronically stimulated — that is, warmed up.
To raise the body’s temperature, a warm-up must begin with aerobic activity, usually light
jogging. Most coaches and athletes have known this for years. That’s why tennis players run
around the court four or five times before a match and marathoners stride in front of the
starting line. But many athletes do this portion of their warm-up too intensely or too early. A
2002 study of collegiate volleyball players found that those who’d warmed up and then sat on
the bench for 30 minutes had lower backs that were stiffer than they had been before the
warm-up. And a number of recent studies have demonstrated that an overly vigorous aerobic
warm-up simply makes you tired. Most experts advise starting your warm-up jog at about 40
percent of your maximum heart rate (a very easy pace) and progressing to about 60 percent.
The aerobic warm-up should take only 5 to 10 minutes, with a 5-minute recovery. (Sprinters
require longer warm-ups, because the loads exerted on their muscles are so extreme.) Then it’
s time for the most important and unorthodox part of a proper warm-up regimen, the Spider-
Man and its counterparts.
“TOWARDS THE end of my playing career, in about 2000, I started seeing some of the other
guys out on the court doing these strange things before a match and thinking, What in the world
is that?” says Mark Merklein, 36, once a highly ranked tennis player and now a national
coach for the United States Tennis Association. The players were lunging, kicking and
occasionally skittering, spider-like, along the sidelines. They were early adopters of a new
approach to stretching.
While static stretching is still almost universally practiced among amateur athletes — watch
your child’s soccer team next weekend — it doesn’t improve the muscles’ ability to perform
with more power, physiologists now agree. “You may feel as if you’re able to stretch farther
after holding a stretch for 30 seconds,” McHugh says, “so you think you’ve increased that
muscle’s readiness.” But typically you’ve increased only your mental tolerance for the
discomfort of the stretch. The muscle is actually weaker.
Stretching muscles while moving, on the other hand, a technique known as dynamic stretching
or dynamic warm-ups, increases power, flexibility and range of motion. Muscles in motion
don’t experience that insidious inhibitory response. They instead get what McHugh calls “an
excitatory message” to perform.
Dynamic stretching is at its most effective when it’s relatively sports specific. “You need
range-of-motion exercises that activate all of the joints and connective tissue that will be
needed for the task ahead,” says Terrence Mahon, a coach with Team Running USA, home to
the Olympic marathoners Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor. For runners, an ideal warm-up might
include squats, lunges and “form drills” like kicking your buttocks with your heels. Athletes
who need to move rapidly in different directions, like soccer, tennis or basketball players,
should do dynamic stretches that involve many parts of the body. “Spider-Man” is a
particularly good drill: drop onto all fours and crawl the width of the court, as if you were
climbing a wall. (For other dynamic stretches, see the sidebar below.)
Even golfers, notoriously nonchalant about warming up (a recent survey of 304 recreational
golfers found that two-thirds seldom or never bother), would benefit from exerting themselves
a bit before teeing off. In one 2004 study, golfers who did dynamic warm- up exercises and
practice swings increased their clubhead speed and were projected to have dropped their
handicaps by seven strokes over seven weeks.
Controversy remains about the extent to which dynamic warm-ups prevent injury. But studies
have been increasingly clear that static stretching alone before exercise does little or nothing
to help. The largest study has been done on military recruits; results showed that an almost
equal number of subjects developed lower-limb injuries (shin splints, stress fractures, etc.),
regardless of whether they had performed static stretches before training sessions. A major
study published earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control, on the other hand, found
that knee injuries were cut nearly in half among female collegiate soccer players who
followed a warm-up program that included both dynamic warm-up exercises and static
stretching. (For a sample routine, visit www.aclprevent.com/pepprogram.htm.) And in golf,
new research by Andrea Fradkin, an assistant professor of exercise science at Bloomsburg
University of Pennsylvania, suggests that those who warm up are nine times less likely to be
injured.
“It was eye-opening,” says Fradkin, formerly a feckless golfer herself. “I used to not really
warm up. I do now.”
You’re Getting Warmer: The Best Dynamic Stretches
These exercises- as taught by the United States Tennis Association’s player-development
program – are good for many athletes, even golfers. Do them immediately after your aerobic
warm-up and as soon as possible before your workout.
STRAIGHT-LEG MARCH
(for the hamstrings and gluteus muscles)
Kick one leg straight out in front of you, with your toes flexed toward the sky. Reach your
opposite arm to the upturned toes. Drop the leg and repeat with the opposite limbs. Continue
the sequence for at least six or seven repetitions.
SCORPION
(for the lower back, hip flexors and gluteus muscles)
Lie on your stomach, with your arms outstretched and your feet flexed so that only your toes
are touching the ground. Kick your right foot toward your left arm, then kick your leftfoot
toward your right arm. Since this is an advanced exercise, begin slowly, and repeat up to 12
times.
HANDWALKS
(for the shoulders, core muscles, and hamstrings)
Stand straight, with your legs together. Bend over until both hands are flat on the ground.
“Walk” with your hands forward until your back is almost extended. Keeping your legs
straight, inch your feet toward your hands, then walk your hands forward again. Repeat five
or six times. G.R.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 2, 2008, on page MM20 of the New
York edition. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?
_r=1&scp=1&sq=stretching%20the%20truth&st=cse
For a video demonstrating recommended stretches, please click here.